FOLSOM, CA - A big team effort helped pull a 1,500-pound bull from a concrete irrigation well Tuesday night.

The bull was stuck in a well on the outskirts of Folsom on White Rock Road and Placerville Road for nearly four hours.

The call came into the Folsom Police Department after 8 p.m. Police, plus Folsom Fire, Rescue 21, Sacramento Metro's heavy rescue team and Sacramento Animal Control, responded to the scene to help rescue the animal

An officer at the scene said the well was about 9 feet deep with 6 feet to 7 feet of water.

Police speculate that bull may have been spooked, pushed the grate covering and then jumped into the well.

After a few a hours of strategizing, the team had a plan.

First, the UC Davis large animal team sedated the bull, so they could get the harness around him.

"Without pressure on his head at the time that we sedated him, he would have drowned," UC Davis Large Animal Rescue Dr. John Madigan said. "So we had to have that in place to secure a rope to keep his airway open while we got the other device under his front legs and lifted him by the thorax. It did slip over him a little bit, but it kept his airway open which was a success."

Then college oak towing hoisted the bull to dry land.

After being a little woozy from the sedation, the bull was released unharmed.

County officials believe there is a spring on the other side of the road and the water is collected inside of the spring box. If they determine that the bull fell into a spring box and not an abandoned well, it will be up to the property owner to cover it up.

An environmental specialist with Sacramento County said there are 500 abandoned wells on record, but they believe that number is even higher.

They ask property owners to contact their office if they know of any abandoned wells. That way they can come out and assess your well to see what needs done to safely cap it.